


Under Agni's Light

by VentasServitas



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 07:46:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26968459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VentasServitas/pseuds/VentasServitas
Summary: This is a tale of two brothers. As they grow older, they walk different paths, growing further and further apart with each passing day. Their differences become conflicts, and the conflict is resolved in the only way it can be, in a duel before the spirits, under Agni's light.What if Iroh had challenged Ozai to an Agni Kai after Zuko was banished?
Relationships: Iroh & Ozai (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 41





	Under Agni's Light

An hour before dawn on the summer solstice, two brothers walked down to the palace courtyard together. The elder was in his twenties, and already a firebending master. The younger was maybe eight years old; today would be his first lesson. The longest day was a most auspicious one, and the omens were good. The members of the palace household would be very surprised if Ozai did not soon join his brother in the ranks of the masters.

As the sun rose, the lesson commenced. The royal tutors ran the younger prince through the basic forms, drilling them over and over again until they were burned into his mind. By noon his movements were perfect, as if he had been practicing for years. His fire, on the other hand, was not. Each of his movements threw out nothing more than sparks. The tutors wanted to push on through lunch, but Iroh intervened; there was no point practicing on an empty stomach, he argued. The crown prince won, and the two brothers walked back up to the palace.

“Why can’t I do it?” asked Ozai, a note of despair in his voice, “It’s always so easy for you.” Iroh chuckled, the age difference between him and his brother meant that Ozai had never seen the struggle he had faced to become the master he was today. “I found it hard in the beginning too you know. Mastery does not come in a single lesson.” he said sagely.  
“I know that.” Ozai said, frustration evident, “But I should be able to do more than make sparks! I’m a prince!” At this his brother sighed, the pressure on the royal family to be powerful benders was immense, it was not unheard of for Fire Lords to banish non-bending children. “I will give you some advice.” said Iroh, “Fire bending comes from the breath, not the muscles. Remember to breathe.” 

“What sort of advice is that?” said Ozai argumentatively, “I know how to breathe!”  
“Just try it, breathe in through the nose, and out through the mouth.” Iroh replied, and stopped walking. Ozai stopped as well, gave him a petulant look, and did as he asked. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. After a moment he looked much calmer. “Now try your form.” Ozai did so, and this time the flames were bright and yellow. He jumped in surprise, and narrowly avoided burning a tree. “Well done!” congratulated his brother, “Now let’s eat!”

* * *

Ozai stood alone in the courtyard. His tutors had finished lessons for the day, but he was determined to get this right. Moving his hand in precise circular motions, he extended his chi into the air around him. Breathing deeply, he felt the yin and yang surrounding him, and pulled them apart. As he finished the kata, he thrust out his right hand, middle and index fingers extended. There was a loud bang, and he was thrown backwards, the front of his robes scorched black. 

“I see you have progressed to lightning already. Most impressive.” Ozai turned to see his brother standing in the door. A few years ago, he would have run over and hugged him, but things had changed. Now Iroh was a colonel in the imperial army, and was rarely home. The two brothers had grown apart. Even so, Ozai respected his brother’s firebending skill, and rarely missed the opportunity to learn from him; of all things, Ozai wanted power, and he knew that fire was power.

“I’ve been trying to do it for weeks! But the tutors can’t do it, and father refuses to show me.” Lightning bending was a highly secret art restricted only to the royal family. The royal tutors had been able to teach Ozai the necessary forms, but even they were not allowed to know lightning’s secrets. Iroh, however, had mastered lightning several years ago, and Ozai knew this. He also knew that his brother could rarely resist teaching, and that this was his best opportunity for learning.

“Your conviction is impure.” said Iroh, “Your chi is in conflict with itself. To bend lightning, you must be certain in your actions. Watch.” Iroh breathed in deeply and began to run through the form. As he flowed easily through the movements, blue lightning began to crackle around him. As he reached the end of the form, Iroh extended out his hand, and a lightning bolt leapt into the sky. Ozai watched as his brother controlled the power of a storm, and vowed that he would master it.

* * *

It was a cruel stroke of fate, thought Ozai, to be born second. For ultimate power to be so close, and yet so far. When Iroh had gone off to war, Ozai had been left behind. Fire Lord Azulon could not risk both his sons, and so the younger brother stayed at home, while the elder won honour and glory. Ozai had studied his history, both the official history taught by his tutors, and the hidden histories in the Dragon-bone Catacombs. Knowledge was power, after all. He knew that many younger siblings had murdered their brothers for the throne, but he was not so far gone as to consider fratricide. But when the letter came in informing of his nephew’s death, a smile formed on his face. Ozai was not the sort of person to allow an opportunity to go by.

* * *

The whispers started shortly after the fateful Agni Kai. It was a disgrace, people said, for the Fire Lord to challenge his son, a mere child, to a duel. But while the people whispered, they did so in private, behind closed doors and shuttered windows. The punishment for treason was death, and there are few deaths more painful than being burned alive. The former general Iroh, however, did not whisper in his rooms. He stood in front of the royal palace, and accused his brother of dishonouring the royal family, the Fire Nation, and Agni herself.

Such an insult could not go unanswered. From a commoner it would be treason, but from the Dragon of the West it was unspeakable. The whispers were getting louder, and Ozai knew he could have an insurrection on his hands. He had his brother dragged from his chambers, and brought before him. “Committing treason now are we, brother? How the mighty have fallen.”  
“The only one who has committed treason is you.” said Iroh, a terrible calm in his voice.  
“I am Fire Lord!” shouted Ozai, “I am always right. I decided what is right, and I decide that you should die for your crimes!” The veneer of calm and respectability that he usually maintained fell apart, and his attendants shrank away from him as the flames around the throne roared higher. 

“No brother, you are not the ultimate power in this land. Agni is, and I demand trial by fire.” It was poetic, Iroh thought, for his brother to answer for his crimes before Agni, whom he had dishonoured with his farce of a duel. Ozai froze. The two brothers had fought several mock duels in their youth, and Iroh had always come out on top. He had been older, more powerful. But he couldn't refuse this challenge. If he did, he would look weak, and if he looked weak, he was finished. There was no reason to be afraid, he thought to himself, Iroh was old now, and fat and out of practice. The duel would be a short affair, and it would solidify his power beyond challenge. “I accept.”

* * *

An hour before the sunset, two brothers walked down to the courtyard. They approached from opposite ends, and they did not look at each other. Both turned to their corners, and began to prepare themselves. Ozai gathered his anger and his fury to reinforce his fire. Passion was power, he knew, and today he had enough to burn down the palace. Iroh knelt on the floor, and breathed deeply.

As the sun began to disappear over the horizon, the two brothers took up their positions, The gong sounded, and the duel began. Ozai immediately went on the offensive, lunging forward in a double handed strike. A wave of fire leapt forwards, even hampered by the sunset, his power was immense. Iroh took a rooted stance and struck, the fire dispersing around him. Ozai continued to attack, moving in a flurry of kicks and punches and chops. He threw a dozen attacks in as many seconds, and Iroh blocked them all, not once counter attacking. 

“What’s the matter brother? Too afraid to attack me?” taunted Ozai, breathing heavily. He was beginning to get enraged at his inability to break Iroh’s defence. His brother said nothing, continuing to hold his steady stance. With a scream of rage, Ozai charged a ball of fire in his hand and thrust it at Iroh. The flame was white hot, and would have annihilated any other fire bender. Iroh could not stop it head on, but he didn’t need to. He sidestepped easily, deflecting the massive attack with a minimal motion. Having thrown everything he had into the attack, Ozai was wide open. It would take just one punch for Iroh to end the duel, to end his life.

But Iroh hesitated. Ozai was a monster, that had been clear even before he had burnt his son. But Iroh remembered when they had been close, before a hunger for power had corrupted him. He hesitated for a second, and the moment was lost. Ozai recovered his stance, and considered his position. It was clear that he could not break Iroh’s defence through conventional means. He had one option left. Even Iroh could not block the cold fire.

Long ago, Ozai had not been able to bend lightning, but he had long since defeated that block, and claimed the storm’s power for himself. As he moved through the precise, circular form, Iroh knew that this time his conviction was pure; his brother truly meant to kill him. He had only one option left. As Ozai reached the end of the form, a bolt of lightning leapt across the courtyard, and death crackled through the air. Iroh closed his eyes and breathed in. He extended his left arm, and caught the lightning. He pulled his chi into his stomach, and then pushed it out of his right arm. He struck outwards, and the lightning followed. 

Ozai’s face turned to pure shock. Then he fell. Then he died.

* * *

Fire Lord Iroh’s first act was to reinstate Zuko as Crown Prince. This was met with open celebration, with the threat of immolation no longer hanging over their heads, the people of the Fire Nation were able to openly agree that the previous Fire Lord had been heartless and cruel. 

Fire Lord Iroh’s second act was to end the war. The response to this was far more mixed. Many were relieved to see their husbands and fathers and children return home, but many more believed that to stop fighting was to accept dishonour. A hundred years of propaganda were not defeated overnight. The new Fire Lord face a dozen assassination attempts in the first month of his reign, but the few that made it past his bodyguards soon discovered that killling a sleeping dragon was easier said than done.

Perhaps things didn’t get better immediately. Probably they would not get better for some time. But on the day of that Agni Kai, the Fire Nation started down a path that would eventually bring peace and prosperity.


End file.
